A DevOps engineer needs to provide sensitive information to applications running as containers.

The best approach to securely provide sensitive information to containerized applications is to use Secrets (Option A).

Secrets are designed to securely store and manage sensitive data (such as API keys, passwords, encryption keys, and certificates) in containerized environments.

They prevent sensitive data from being hardcoded in environment variables or configuration files, reducing the risk of accidental exposure.

Secrets can be managed using container orchestration tools like Kubernetes Secrets, Docker Secrets, HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, and Azure Key Vault.

Environment-based updates can be handled dynamically, ensuring that each deployment environment gets the correct and updated credentials.

B. Tokens

Tokens (e.g., authentication tokens like OAuth or JWT) are used for authentication and authorization but are not a secure storage mechanism for sensitive information.

They can expire or be compromised if not securely managed.

C. Image scanning

Image scanning checks container images for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations but does not manage sensitive data for applications.

It is important for security but not relevant to securely providing sensitive information to containers.

D. Variables

Environment variables can store sensitive data but are not encrypted or protected by default.

They can be accessed by any process running in the container, making them vulnerable to security risks.

Best practices recommend using Secrets instead of plain environment variables for storing sensitive data.

Using Secrets ensures that sensitive information is securely stored, encrypted, and dynamically updated per environment. It is the best option for securely managing credentials and confidential data in a containerized environment.